News | January 10, 2024

New Exhibition Explores History of Furniture and Furnishings Through Rare Books

The John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History, University of Leeds

The Cabinet of Practical, Useful and Decorative Furniture Designs, a colour-lithographed fold-out catalogue of sofa designs by Henry Lawford, 1855. 

The Part of the Furniture exhibition will explore the history of furniture and furnishings through books from the extensive library of book collector and antiques dealer John Bedford.

Ornate designs by a renaissance pioneer, a unique Chippendale cabinetmaker’s pattern book, elaborate trade cards, colourful catalogues, drawings and manuals chart the evolution of furniture history – and the journey from drawing board, to workshop, to home. The exhibition is running at The Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, University of Leeds, UK, through December 21.

The exhibition also celebrates Bedford’s life, his vast knowledge and his generous legacy to the University of Leeds which enabled the extension and refurbishment of The Brotherton Research Centre on campus, and the establishment of The John Bedford Fellowship, in addition to the donation of his dazzling library. He began his career in the world of antiques with a stall in a Kensington antiques market in the 1960s, and went on to dominate the trade in London. The knowledge he accumulated through buying and selling antique furniture, and building his library, in turn helped to shape the study of furniture history. On his death in February 2019, Bedford left his fine collection of rare books, manuscripts, artworks and objects to the University of Leeds.

“I only met John once, when I visited his home in Guernsey to survey his library," said co-curator and Special Collections Curator Rhiannon Lawrence-Francis but I will never forget his kindness, enthusiasm and genuine delight at sharing his favourite books with me. He understood the importance of not letting his library remain hidden, and his Trustees saw to it that once it was transferred to Leeds, significant resource was made available to catalogue the collection, allowing anyone to explore its riches online. John’s foresight and generosity also enabled us to build a brand new flexible teaching space – his gift has been utterly transformational.” 

A pop-up diagram in paper and mica (representing glass), from Practical perspective; or Perspective made easie. Teaching by the opticks, how to delineate all bodies, buildings, or landskips, &c… ‘Usefull for all painters, engravers architects, &c. and all others that are any waies inclined to speculatory ingenuity’, by Joseph Moxon, 1670
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The John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History, University of Leeds

A pop-up diagram in paper and mica (representing glass), from Practical perspective; or Perspective made easie. Teaching by the opticks, how to delineate all bodies, buildings, or landskips, &c…
‘Usefull for all painters, engravers architects, &c. and all others that are any waies inclined to speculatory ingenuity’, by Joseph Moxon, 1670

Plate from The cabinet and chair-maker's real friend and companion, or, the whole system of chair-making made plain and easy by Robert Manwaring
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The John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History, University of Leeds

Plate from The cabinet and chair-maker's real friend and companion, or, the whole system of chair-making made plain and easy by Robert Manwaring

Plate from Birmingham trade catalogue for Timothy Smith of brass handles, escutcheons, hinges, c.1778
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The John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History, University of Leeds

Plate from Birmingham trade catalogue for Timothy Smith of brass handles, escutcheons, hinges, c.1778

The Library, engraved by Godfrey, from A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole, youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole Earl of Orford, at Strawberry-Hill near Twickenham, Middlesex, 1784
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The John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History, University of Leeds

The Library, engraved by Godfrey, from A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole, youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole Earl of Orford, at Strawberry-Hill near Twickenham, Middlesex, 1784

Pattern books by the likes of Chippendale and Sheraton appear in the exhibition as key historical texts. Upholsterer and dealer in ‘ancient furniture’ Daniel Thorn is less of a household name, but his personal sketchbook of designs for drapery, curtains and furniture is a lively working record of the fashions of the late-18th and early-19th centuries.

Powerful human stories animate the artefacts with the presence of the people who used and made them. Highlights include:

  • a contract from 1728 detailing the apprenticeship of a ‘poor boy' to a tailor and upholsterer under the harsh conditions of the Elizabethan Poor Laws
  • Henry Lawford’s gloriously garish 1855 fold-out sofa catalogue which sweeps away the clichés of dismal Victoriana in a colour-lithographed riot of puce, lavender and pea-green
  • Horace Walpole’s own copy of the lavish volume describing his villa, Strawberry Hill, that records the role of this eccentric aristocrat in the birth of the Gothic Revival
  • coloured plates in Augustus Charles Pugin’s Gothic Furniture which were thought to have been drawn by his 13 year-old son, also named Augustus

By the time of his death in 1852 at the age of just 40, the younger Pugin had become one of the most important creative forces in Victorian Gothic design. Bedford’s copy of the auction catalogue for his great library and collections the following year has buyers’ names and prices noted by hand against each lot.

A 17th century Treatise of Japaning and Varnishing which both responded to and drove the demand for imitation East Asian lacquerware furniture, is one of the most famous texts in furniture history, and Bedford’s copy is displayed in its own original lacquered cover. Dating from almost a century later, The ladies amusement; or, Whole art of japanning made easy was a resource for the hobbyist at home, full of decorative designs for cutting out and pasting on to household items. Bedford’s is the only surviving complete coloured example, and it was among his favourite possessions.

Also on show is an exceptionally rare 16th century book of fanciful designs for furniture by French renaissance tastemaker Androuet Du Cerceau (1511-1586), acquired by the University of Leeds Libraries in 2023 in memory of John Bedford and to complement his bequest. 

“The subject of furniture history began to emerge in the 1830s and has since evolved to become a vibrant multifaceted discipline," said co-curator Dr Mark Westgarth, Associate Professor, Art History and Museum Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Art & Antiques Market. "Driven by subject specialists, furniture history has been intimately associated with collecting and furnishing with antique furniture, and with antique furniture dealers such as Bedford.  This exhibition shines new light on the themes and subjects that have come to dominate furniture history as a subject, and asks what furniture history might look like in the future.”

Co-curator and Rare Book Specialist Dr Rachel Eckersley added: “As one of the project team I had the pleasure of cataloguing John’s rarest and most precious printed books. We are now in a position to share the riches of John’s collection with the widest possible audience, fulfilling his wish that anyone interested in furniture history should be able to use and enjoy his library.”